Armed Bandit Holds Up South Tacoma Saloon
A lone, masked gunman surprised nine patrons at a South 12th Street saloon, making off with $90 after forcing the men to keep their hands in the air.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Nine men were held up in a saloon on South 12th Street at 9:30 last night by a lone highwayman and were forced to sit in their chairs with hands held aloft while the bandit cleaned out the cash drawer, amounting to $90. The hold-up man was armed with an automatic revolver, and his entire face was covered with a handkerchief, which had two small eye-holes torn in it. He entered through the rear door and had covered the occupants of the bar-room before they knew of his presence. Eight of the men were sitting at card tables idling their time. Peter Nylander, the bartender, was behind the bar scouring glasses. As soon as the order for 'hands up' had been given, everyone in the place put their hands skyward. Nylander was marched from behind the bar, and the bandit proceeded to clean out the cash drawer, scooping out the cash and dropping it into his pockets with one hand while he kept his gun leveled at the inmates. When through with the operation, he walked backwards to the front door and leisurely stepped outside. The eight men in the saloon besides the bartender were Gust Almquist, C. O. Nelson, Martin Swanson, John Benton, Mandel Pearson, Victor Swanson, Fred Weitel and John Jacobson.
“As soon as the order for 'hands up' had been given, everyone in the place put their hands skyward.”
Public safety and 'thirst parlors' remain a recurring theme in Tacoma, though the modern equivalent of a saloon robbery often plays out in the headlines as a broader debate over neighborhood safety and the density of businesses in South Tacoma.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.